Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, British military officer, diplomat, explorer, geographer, linguist, translator, ethnographer, and fencer.
Burton's accomplishments are far too numerous to list here, but include the first English translation of The Arabian Nights, some of the first serious study of native peoples in Africa, South Asia and South America, extensive exploration of Africa in search of the source of the Nile, and a visit to Mecca at a time when the city was forbidden on pain of death to non-Muslims (he successfully disguised himself as an Egyptian doctor for the trip).
Burton is said to have numerous languages with native fluency, and was also reputed to have been the best fencer of his day in Europe. He figures prominently as a character in Phillip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series.